InVent joins Series D funding in Singapore's Ninja Van

InVent joins Series D funding in Singapore's Ninja Van

InVent, a venture capital arm of InTouch Holdings Plc, has joined the Series D funding round worth US$279 million (about 8.8 billion baht) in Singapore-based logistics startup Ninja Van to capitalise on e-commerce growth.

This is the largest investment deal for InVent in eight years and its first venture in the logistics sector.

Other investors in the funding include GeoPost SA, Grab, Carmenta Capital Management from the US, Singapore's Golden Gate Ventures Growth Fund, Monk's Hill Ventures and Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin's B Capital.

Founded in Singapore in 2014, Ninja Van's logistics service now covers Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines and Thailand.

"This is our largest investment deal since 2012," said Narongpon Boonsongpaisan, head of InVent. "Logistics offers a growing opportunity in line with macro trends, such as ageing societies, the rise of the middle class and urbanisation."

According to an e-Conomy SEA 2019 study by Temasek and Google Inc, from 2015-2019, Thailand's e-commerce sales grew 54% as more customers switched to make purchases online.

This switch has propelled parcel delivery to reach 4 million items a day, with the courier business reaching 66 billion baht.

"The Covid-19 crisis is a major turning point to drive e-commerce and logistics sectors," said Mr Narongpon.

He emphasised InVent is committed to investing 200 million baht and focusing on sectors that would grow over the next 12-18 months, such as logistics, e-commerce, food delivery, digital services as well as strategic technologies.

Verachai Chusakulporn, head of Ninja Van Thailand, said the logistics sector would grow 50% this year, driven by the pandemic, as people behaviour changes to ordering products online. Normally, the logistics sector grows around 20-30% a year.

It took 7-8 months to conclude this Series D funding.

Series C funding took place in 2017.

Ninja Van will use the new investment sum in three areas: improving its delivery capacity, expanding cross-border delivery for small and medium-sized enterprises in Asean, and increasing "Ninja direct" one-stop service centres for delivery.

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